The last shard
by Roselynn
Summary: My name is Erika Williams...There is nothing special about me. I have no friends, and my family abandoned me. I work for my life and study for my education. See? Nothing special or extraordinary...so why don't they think the same?


**All you need to know is that this fic idea just popped into my head and that this takes place after 'Prince Caspian' moviewise**

**All rights go to C.S Lewis, an author of which I am a great fan of.**

**Hope you enjoy

* * *

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At a very young age, Erika always knew she would be miserable. Right from when she was left at an orphanage door when she was an infant, she knew that there was nothing she could do, for time had been done, and history written. She had not many friends either. Or rather, none at all. No, Erika Williams was never liked by anyone, and was never to be loved by anyone either. Even so, it didn't matter to her.

During her child hood, Erika was always one to stand out in the crowd. This much was not her fault. Little girls played with dolls, she worked and scrubbed every inch of the orphanage. When children made mistakes, they are sternly warned by those older than them. Erika was yelled at and yanked by her hair. Boys and girls had parents and family to support them for with love, while the only support she had was that of which the only thing that kept her alive in the world.

It was her will.

Every night, Erika would lay awake in the cold dark room of the orphanage and think. She thought about what her life were to be like if she was ever loved. Would it be different?

She believed it would be, but when? When would she feel that she was safe? Every day, she studied for her scholarship, and she worked for her life.

But despite everything, she still believed that somewhere in the world, there was someone that would love her. She wished that that person would adopt her and make her apart of his/her family.

And she hoped that after that, she'd be happy.

* * *

As Erika walked through the hallways of her school, she could hear the whispers of the other girls talking about her and the snickering of the boys laughing at her. She ignored them, as she always did, but somehow today was different.

Lately, Erika had been losing her faith, her will to fight, and her health. She'd been working harder at the orphanage and found it hard to keep up her studies especially when exams were coming up.

She quickened her pace, clutching her books to her chest. The voices got louder.

She ran, and it seemed as if they were shouting. In reality, they really were. They were proud that the great Erika Williams finally cracked. They were pleased with their work, and they were using every opportunity they had to show it.

For a moment, time slowed for Erika. She took a quick glance to the side and saw four people, and she was surprised.

They were just staring at her. They weren't laughing like everyone else. She saw their eyes. It was something she often did to see if someone was taking advantage of her with school work and such. She often saw something that made the word 'liar' come into her mind.

But the eyes of these four were different.

She was so distracted by their eyes that she didn't remember their faces anymore, and the glance was short because Erika looked back ahead just in time for someone to decide that she was to be wearing an ice cold bucket-full of water with her uniform. She stopped.

Erika looked at herself. Her blonde hair was absolutely soaked. She lowered her head to look at the floor, and then she ran again, nearly slipping the first time she stepped on the ground.

* * *

Erika ran until she was outside of the school. Wiping her face with a handkerchief, she shivered. The winter time really was something that she wasn't very fond of. It was said to be awfully cold, and that meant that the orphanage would be horrid.

"You'll freeze out here, you know." Erika snapped her head in the direction of the voice. It was a boy. She knew who he was mainly because she took the liberty of memorizing all those in her class. She had nothing better to do. Unlike others whom spent their time making fun of her. That aside, the boy's name was Edmund Pevensie.

"May I help you?" she said, looking back at the snow-covered ground.

"Not really."

It was silent. Neither one of the two talked. Erika found it unusual that anyone went near her at all, let alone make conversation with her.

Then, an idea dawned on her. _He must want to be alone here_, she thought. Why he didn't just shove her off, she didn't know, but either way, she stood up.

"I guess I should go then." As Erika walked away, she heard more people talking to Edmund, but she ignored them and continued to walk

* * *

"Excuse me" Erika turned around to the person who was calling her. She had just boarded a train to town.

"Yes?" she answered to the person whom had the same uniform as her. The girl was older than her that much Erika could tell, but the one thing that was rather strange was that Erika had seen this girl before, but she just couldn't remember where.

"I was wondering if you would want to walk with us." The girl said, gesturing to three people whom Erika assumed to be her siblings, one of them being Edmund. But at this question, Erika was surprised. _It must be a trick,_ She thought, looking into her eyes.

Nothing.

There was nothing in the girl's eyes. No doubt, no sign of a lie, and no sight of any trickery whatsoever. Erika looked into the eyes of the other three. There was nothing either. The only trace of emotion she saw in their eyes was in that of Edmund's. The thing was, Erika didn't know what to make of his eyes.

Looking back at girl in front of her, she gave a small smile.

"Thank you. I would love to have some company for a change." The girl smiled, looking triumphant.

"My name is Susan Pevensie." The girl said, shaking Erika's hand. She pointed at a taller boy who was suddenly right beside her. "This is my older brother, Peter. " The older boy known as Peter shook her hand politely.

"It's nice to meet you." He said. Erika gave the same small smile and nodded.

"And you as well." The next sibling was a girl that was looked no younger than two to five years of an age difference from Erika herself.

"This is our younger sister, Lucy" Susan said

"Hello there!" she said in a cheery voice as Erika shook her hand. Her smiled grew a bit wider.

"Hello to you too." Not many knew this, but Erika was always very fond of children. Seeing them play and have fun brought joy to her despite what her own childhood had been like.

The next and last of the siblings was a person whom she already knew.

"And this is Edmund, our other brother."Erika smiled at him, her smile being slightly bigger than she had intended though she still kept it small.

"I believe we have met." She said. Edmund held out a hand anyway.

"But not properly." He stated. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Erika shook his hand.

"The pleasure is all mine. My name is Erika Williams"

* * *

Not more than a few minutes passed had the train stopped. The five left the train station and left for their homes. It was a coincidence that the Pervensie household was quite near from the orphanage, so it was much to Erika's convenience that she could still be with the Pevensie children for a longer period of time. She really did love the company they gave.

Erika was talking to Lucy and Susan, giving nods, small answers, and small smiles to show that she was listening. Edmund and Peter were walking ahead of them. When they got to the Pevensie house, however, Erika stopped in her tracks, and so did the four others.

There was smoke. Lots of it. It was obvious that a huge fire was going on.

Erika's blood became cold and her heart pounded in her chest, praying that the place was not what she thought to be.

"Isn't that where the orphanage is?" Edmund asked. That was all Erika needed to bring her back to earth. Without a word, she dropped her school bag in the snow and ran past Edmund and Peter, ignoring Susan and Lucy calling her name.

* * *

"What's gotten into her?!" Edmund shouted. He, Susan, and Peter ran after Erika while Lucy was to stay home. Their father was out of town which meant that Peter was to take care of his siblings while his mother did errands and such.

Soon, they finally got to the source of the fire. Indeed, it was the orphanage. The fire was enormous, and the three Pevensies watched as people were brought out of the burning building, in terrible condition.

"There she is!" Susan said, pointing into a direction. There, they saw Erika talking to one of the firemen.

* * *

"What do you mean? You didn't bring her out then?" she asked, panic clear in her voice. The fireman shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that the fire is far too big for anyone to go in. There is nothing we can do." With that, the fireman walked away. Erika scowled at the fact that he seemed to not have cared one bit

But then, she froze. _Does this mean that she won't live? So much has happened to her. She doesn't deserve to die; not like this._

Coming back to her senses and her school bag being long forgotten in the snow, Erika took off her jacket, grabbed a bucket of water, poured it over herself, and started piling her jacket with snow, making it become something that resembled a sack.

Then, she took a deep breath, and ran inside the burning building.

* * *

"What is she doing?!" Edmund shouted as he saw Erika run into a building that looked as if it were to collapse at any minute.

"Come on, Ed." Peter said. Susan had already gone to help put out the fire.

Peter and Edmund grabbed a bucket of water each.

"Ready?" After a nod, they ran inside

* * *

Erika sped up the stairs of orphanage, hoping that she wasn't too late. _Please Lord_, she prayed._ I don't care what happens to me. Just please, let her be alright._

Something in Erika's mind clicked, and for a second, she felt relieved. But inside, she knew that she still had someone to save. Someone that she had brought herself to love dearly, despite the short amount of time she's known her.

As she got to the floor of her destination, the most terrible thing happened to Erika. One second, she's running to a certain bedroom, and the next, she found herself having the entire right side of her body was being pinned by an enormous and heavy piece of debris. She grunted in pain and struggled to get free which turned out to be an attempt that went in vain, for she couldn't move.

Throughout the course of her struggling, more pieces of debris fell, and although smaller, they were quite sharp. But that aside, the one thing that turned out to be a problem was that the smoke and the dust around caused her to lose her sight, and being unable to wipe the dust away, there was nothing she could do about it. She did the only thing she could do at that moment.

She screamed.

* * *

Edmund and Peter, to say the least, didn't know where to go. They ran through the entire first floor, going into every room as they went. So far, there was no sign of Erika. The buckets of water proved to be nothing but an inconvenience, for the falling debris had caused them to drop them and thus making the water spill.

They were about to lose hope until they heard a scream.

For the two young men, it was quite obvious who screamed, so they ran up the steps of a nearby staircase and went off to the second floor.

There, on the floor and pinned down was Erika. She was squirming under the piece of wood while her hand held a wet jacket.

"Erika!"Edmund shouted as he and Peter ran to her. "Pete, help me get this thing off her!"

"Edmund? Peter? What are you two doing here?" Erika said when they got the piece of wood off her. She immediately clutched her arm.

"We're getting you out of here, come on." Edmund said. He swung her arm over his neck and helped her up.

"Wait, I need to go save her!" Erika shouted.

"Who?"

"Mary, she's still in there. She's a small child and she wasn't able to get out" She said, almost trying to get away from Edmund's grip. Peter spoke up.

"I'll get her. Where is she?" he asked. Erika pointed somewhere, though she wasn't sure if she was pointing to the right place.

"In the room just at the end of the hall. Here" she said, holding out her wet jacket.

"Wrap this around her." Peter nodded and ran in the room.

* * *

The room was a mess. The roof was burning and there was smoke and debris everywhere.

Then, he heard it.

In the corner of the room, not so far from him, Peter heard a wail. A baby's wail.

He wasted no time, and acted quickly. He simply ran to the small bundle and wrapped Erika's jacket around it.

Just when he was about to leave, a small bottle fell from the blanket of which the baby in his hands was wrapped around. Peter picked it up, wondering for a moment what it was. But then, more debris fell, so he ran outside with the bottle in his hand.

"Let's go!"

* * *

The two Pevensies, Erika, and the baby that was known as Mary, got out of the building just in time for it to practically explode. The fire had probably already reached the fuel tank at the orphanage's basement.

Susan found them soon enough.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Erika hurt her arm." Susan gasped.

"Let me see." she said.

"I'm fine." Erika insisted. She suddenly took a sharp intake of breath when Susan attempted to lift her arm.

"No, you aren't" Susan said. Erika shook her head.

"What about Mary?"She asked. Susan looked at Edmund in question. He directed her gaze to the bundle in Peter's arms.

"She's fine" Peter assured.

Just then, a plump middle-aged woman walked over to them. She suddenly just yanked Erika's injured arm, which caused her to yelp, then she tore Mary out of Peter's hands.

"What are you doing?!" Susan demanded

"These girls are with the orphanage." The woman said in her somewhat rasp of a voice. "And we are being sent to a shelter, then we'll be re-located." She looked back at Erika and smirked wickedly.

"So, you can say goodbye to that annoying school of yours" While the woman talked away, Erika fell silent. Eyes still closed, she smiled and turned to where she thought Susan, Edmund, and Peter were.

"I suppose this is the last time you will see me. I regret to not be able to use my eyes at the moment. But thank you for walking with me today." With that, the woman started dragging her away.

From behind her, Erika could hear them talking, but she ignored them again. She didn't want to feel more pain than she already did.

"No" The rough woman turned around.

"What?" she said. Edmund looked at Susan and Peter. They nodded at him.

"They're coming with us." Erika turned around, and to say that she was shocked would have been an understatement.

"W-wait, I couldn't-"she was cut off.

"It's fine" Susan said.

"So you better let them go this instant." Edmund demanded.

The woman paused and eyed them for a moment, then she looked back at the two girls that were against her grip.

"What do you see in this lot anyway?" she asked, and then she tightened her hold on Erika who winced. "There's nothing special about them"

"She's a friend of ours." Peter stated, and if she was capable of using her eyes, Erika would have widened them in surprise. She was absolutely speechless. In fact, she was so surprised; she didn't even notice the woman release her arm. But she was, however, taken by surprise when the woman practically shoved Mary at her. Her arms shook and she felt as if her arms were going to fall off.

"You're wasting your time." With that, she walked away.

Erika grunted to herself. She hadn't remembered Mary being that heavy. It was probably just her arms weakening. Through each minute that passed, she could feel herself entire body weakening as well, and she was sure that it was showing.

Suddenly, she felt the weight on her arms lifted and something warm drape over her.

"What's happening?" she asked, shivering. It was only at that time since the fire that she noticed it to be incredibly cold despite her nearly burning to her death

"I've got Mary." Susan started "And Edmund gave you his jacket." Erika gasped and immediately started taking off the jacket which she had difficulty doing because of her arm. She was stopped though; by a warm hand on her arm.

"Keep it first." She heard Edmund say.

"I-I c-can't-"she was cut off again.

"Erika, you're shaking wildly." Susan said. Erika still shook her head.

"I-I'm fine. Ju-just t-tired is all." She insisted. It didn't seem to convince any of the Pevensie children one bit.

The first step that Erika tried to make resulted in her collapsing on her knees. She suddenly found it hard to breath. She felt a thump on both sides of her body, and considering the circumstance, she assumed that Peter and Edmund kneeled by her side. A warm hand pressed against her forehead. It was bigger than when Edmund put his hand on her shoulder, so she assumed it to be Peter.

"She's burning hot." He said.

The rest of the speech that was being said was not understood by Erika anymore, for each second that flew away went with her consciousness.

And in a matter of seconds, everything went black

* * *

**Yay! It's done. Thank you for reading. It was kind of hard making this considering that they lived during the year 1940. Let's hope I can update soon. I have to update my other fics too, but maybe I will update sooner if I get writer's block with the other fics :D**

**Please review! ^_^**


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